Juniper Finch and the Tree That Remembered

The red X was the first thing Juniper Finch noticed when she arrived at her grandmother's cabin. It was painted on the trunk of Old Marrow, the giant oak at the edge of the meadow, the tallest tree for miles. The paint was still wet, and it dripped down the bark like a bleeding scratch. She stopped walking, and her suitcase slid from her hand.

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Juniper stared up into the branches. She had spent every summer of her life in that tree. She had read books in its crooks, hidden birthday presents in its hollow, and once, in a thunderstorm, felt its whole trunk hum beneath her palms like a great, slow heartbeat. "They can't," she said. "It's older than the town. It's older than everything."

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